Our Love
by Lulu-Prints
Summary: Years ago he had thrown away the key to his heart; however, when he finally answered the knock on the door to his heart.. It was too late for him to question the lack of pattern he had to follow. AU Silver pair fic, rated T for chapters to come.
1. Love, haunted

**Disclaimer :** I do not own Prince of Tennis & the hot tennis princes inside, although like everyone else out there, I really wish I did.

**Summary : **Here's a AU (Alternate Universe) Silver-pair story, rated T for chapters to come. There was a pattern to life, he had always believed, a pattern everyone follows unconsciously without questioning it. Years ago he had thrown away the key to his heart; however, when he finally answered the knock on the door to his heart.. It was too late for him to question the lack of pattern he had to follow.

**Note to all : **Not too good with my summaries yet, pardon me for that.. This story's rated T for a slight bit of sweet silver pair action. I know I'm probably in no position to say this, but this fanfic is dedicated to . Purple . Chocolate . Stars . for all those many times she's brightened up my days and made me smile, even up till now. Thanks, and hope you'll enjoy!

* * *

Deep down, a part of her had always been haunted by the edge of her lavender field, which led straight to a drop into the sea. Her house sat in the middle of this lavender field, overlooking the ever-changing spread of blue. She had always knew that something bad was bound to happen eventually..

But she had never expected it to haunt her like this.

Then, he was a boy of only six years old; Too young to know consequences, too young to know he was treading along the edge of life and death. But this he, was all she had left to love.

Moonlight threw a gentle glowing blanket upon the both of them, who were out on the lavender field for an after supper walk. He had a loose bundle of lavenders held against his chest, each a different shade of violet in his arms. Far away, the clock in the house chimed, signalling that it was way past midnight.

"Baa-chan!"

It was dark; Too dark for both playing figures to know of the danger looming over their forms. The moon hung above them with its sad smile, but it could make no move to warn the people beneath it..

"Yes, dear?"

"Look, I picked a whole bunch of them!"

The moment he held the lavenders out, his frail, little frame shivered unconsciously in the cold autumn night air. The wind caught at his outstretched arms - she, too, threw her arms out, as though hoping to catch him before..

"No, Ryou!"

"Baa-chan!"

The drop led straight into the disturbed patch of cerculean beneath.


	2. Love, encountered

**Disclaimer :** I do not own Prince of Tennis & the hot tennis princes inside, although like everyone else out there, I really wish I did.

**Summary : **This is an AU (Alternate Universe) Silver-pair story, rated T for chapters to come. There was a pattern to life, he had always believed, a pattern everyone follows unconsciously without questioning it. Years ago he had thrown away the key to his heart; however, when he finally answered the knock on the door to his heart.. It was too late for him to question the lack of pattern he had to follow.

**Note to all : **Not too good with my summaries yet, pardon me for that.. This story's rated T for a slight bit of sweet silver pair action. I know I'm probably in no position to say this, but this fanfic is dedicated to . Purple . Chocolate . Stars . for all those many times she's brightened up my days and made me smile, even up till now. Thanks, and hope you'll enjoy!

* * *

Work was as usual today, uneventful as usual, boring as usual. Shishido Ryou sighed as he picked out a spare piece of leaf from the bunch of roses, and dropped his lids as he placed them gently in a new vase of fresh water. If nobody picks them up, he'll be made to wrap them up into another bouquet.. As usual.

"Ryou-kun, how are you doing?" A blur of voices and laughter from behind made him jump slightly - but thankfully, he had already replaced the bunch of roses, so he wouldn't have the chance to damage them. Whipping around, Ryou placed his usual facade of a smile on his face, and found himself looking at a bunch of his giggling classmates: whom were, to no surprise, all girls.

"Hey, are you girls looking for flowers?"

"No, we came to see you!"

Sweat started to form on Ryou's forehead as he struggled to remain smiling. Of course, if you were one of the better looking boys in the school, it was only natural for you to have girls flooding all around you, giving you all sorts of random reasons and excuses to look for you - even more so if you had the best grades in your level.

This, he realised, was especially true, since he was also one of the few guys around who bothered leaving his hair long, who had the patience to maintain it. According to his only close friend, girls find this really charming - Something along the lines of that if a guy can care so much about his own hair, he must be equally caring to his girlfriend had he had one.

Although to be honest, Ryou understood none of that.

Thankfully, his employer, Noeru-san, poked her head into the shop from the side room at this time. She winked at him before withdrawing, and Ryou timely used it as an excuse.

"My sensei will fire me if I get distracted.. If you're not planning on buying flowers, would you mind leaving?"

He had totally lost count of how many times this has happened. Everyday, a different group of girls will come, some from his class, some from his year; Sometimes, he wouldn't even know them at all. Every single time, he'd repeat the same few lines, and they'll all leave gradually, giggling and chuckling as they went.

This repeated every day, sometimes even multiple times a day. They just don't learn to give up.

For the rest of the afternoon, Ryou was subjected to entertaining customers, mostly female, who had wandered into the shop with no intentions of buying flowers at first, but were only charmed into picking up a bouquet or two by his smile or his eyes. Noeru-san had once joked that he was a good draw of business, but the idea of him dressing up to promote the florist shop was shot down by Ryou because he didn't like to stand outside the shop like a display.

Usually, he didn't have much to look forward to, except for dinner time and knocking-off time..

"Ryou!" Another person had called for him at the door to the shop, but this time, Ryou knew who it was without even taking a look to confirm that.

Glancing momentarily at the clock hanging before he let his eyes wander to the figure at the door, Ryou stood to let the boy in, his smile just a degree warmer than before. As usual, his only close friend from school was on time again, always meeting him at seven sharp in the evening with dinner for him.

"Thanks, Taki-kun."

"Come on, I'm sure we're past that now!"

Taki Haginosuke was a boy of his age, with brilliant honey-blonde hair sweeping past his eyes and cropped around his neck. While Ryou had many acquaintances and fair-weathered friends in school, Taki-kun remained as his only close friend through the ages; They were rarely seen without the company of each other on the compound, more so during lessons because they shared the same classes. To Ryou, Taki-kun was a close-to-heart friend he could trust, whom he knew he could tell everything to should there be a need for him to.

However, he still couldn't stop calling him Taki-kun, instead of using the boy's given name; he was aware of how much Taki minded it, but Ryou just couldn't quite drop that habit.

Then, after Taki had left, Ryou would spend the few couple of hours before he would knock off wrapping bouquets as usual; Sometimes, he would have specifications to follow, but most of the times, he was allowed to 'let his creativity run wild'. However, as usual, his patience wouldn't last him beyond the third or the fourth bouquet. Noeru-san would always try to encourage him on, telling him how he was slowly improving.

Ryou, on the other hand, didn't want to improve at all. He didn't do this because he liked it. He did this only because this job paid well, and Noeru-san had been kind enough to let him stay with her while he worked her - which meant that he also earned a shelter over his head, warmth and clothes and perhaps some care and concern while he worked here.

So what if he was popular, and he had the best grades in school? He still had only one close friend, and he still had to work in the neighbourhood florist shop as a helper to support himself.

Sighing as he set his second bouquet for the night down, Ryou habitually lifted his eyes towards the clock, groaning as he realised that he still have a good half an hour to go till closing time.

Perhaps he'd stop, and tidy up all these spare flower petals slowly. Bring them up to the apartment upstairs so that he could take a girly flower bath. Cheh, disgusting.

The door to the shop chose this moment to drift open. When Ryou finally reacted to the soft chime of the bells hung on the door, the man who had entered had already turned to close the door behind him. All Ryou could see was that he was rather tall, taller than Ryou himself, and that he had startling silver hair.

"Hey, you're not closing the shop yet, right?" The man asked as he turned around slowly, a smile lighting up his soft, but handsome features as he spotted Ryou sitting alone in the midst of all the flowers he was working on. Ryou dropped his head to the second bouquet he had just finished, debating whether he should be nice, or he should just ask the person to leave. Technically, he could turn down customers if he wished, but it wouldn't help him and the business of the florist shop.. In the end, Ryou bit down on his desire to just ask to be left alone, and lifted his head to shoot a fake, 'welcoming' smile at the man.

"No, we're _not_ about to close.. How may I help you?" the mahogany-haired boy asked, sweet voice laced with agitation.

"I'm looking for a bouquet.. It's my sister's anniversary tomorrow."

Ryou's face darkened for just a second, dropping his gaze from the man's inquisitive, soft golden ones. Of course, what more could he have expected? People buy flowers only for their loved ones, their family and friends.. Their close ones. People don't just buy flowers for no reason. And people don't come to his florist shop to buy flowers from him only to give it to him.

Really. What was he thinking, now?

"What's your sister's favourite colour?" He asked, his tone a little too harsh. Before he could recover, though, the silver-haired man already had a hand over his head, petting in a comfortting sort of way.

"Wha-" Ryou yelled, amber eyes flaring wide open.

"It's okay.." He was being.. Soothed?

"You- Oi, stop that!"

"Oh.. Huh? Oh! I- I'm so sorry," the man said, a shocked expression on his face, lifting his hand away swiftly before shooting him a sincere, apologetic smile while taking small steps backwards. "It's just I have to deal with teenagers like you for work, and I saw your expression so i just.. I just, slipped. Occupational hazard. I'm really so very sorry.."

"..." Ryou couldn't even quite recall ever hearing him approaching.

"I'm sorry, I swear that wouldn't happen again.."

"Uh.. It's fine now. I-I'm okay." Ryou managed after a while, dropping his eyes with a tiny smile playing by the corners of his lips mysteriously. Somehow, he felt slightly cheered up from before. Maybe it was just his mind playing tricks on him; he even felt the urge to start laughing now.

Come to think about it, that was quite.. Amusing in a way.

"Uh, okay, so.. What's your sister's favourite colour again?"

After standing up to pull a seat at the table for the man, Ryou wandered over to the fridges to check on his flowers as he waited for an answer. He watched from the corner of his eye as the silver-haired man pulled a tiny, crumpled piece of paper, and stared hard at it for a moment..

"Purple," the man said finally, lifting his eyes to glance at Ryou.

"What, you need a piece of paper to remind yourself of your sister's favourites?"

"Uh, sort of.."

Silence fell as Ryou left the man alone at the table covered with spilled flower petals, brows furrowed slightly as he stared at the flowers in the fridge. Purple flowers were not commonly asked for, and they don't come cheap. Also.. Purple happened to be his favourite colour too.

No, this isn't about me, he had to remind himself again before wheeling around to eye the man.

"Purple roses will do? The colour's a little faded because they're just soaked in purple dyed solution.. Or would you like violets or lavender instead?"

"You offer lavender here?" the man at he table replied almost immediately, eyes brightening up in that instant. "I don't think she likes violets very much, but roses and lavender sounds perfect."

"Uh, okay.." Because he liked purple roses and lavenders himself, too. After all, all the lavender plants they had behind the shop were replanted here on his request, and all the purple roses were hand-dyed by him personally. Then again, this really wasn't about himself..

The door to the fridge swung open, then closed again. Ryou returned to the table carrying his current favourite bouquet of purple flowers, and placed it gently in the man's outstretched hands for him to take a closer look at it.

"If you want to make amendments to the bouquet you can tell me now. I made this one myself earlier today, so it's still fresh," he added softly, glancing away from the bouquet of roses lavenders. He had spent the most effort on that one, just earlier in the afternoon when business was slow.

"No, it's perfect," the man replied gently, fingering the brightest violet rosebud that sat in the center. "How much would this be?"

"Uh.." He was tempted to say 'priceless', but he held back just in time. "I'll.. It's.. Three thousand Yen."

"Three thousand Yen only? But.."

"Three thousand Yen only," he repeated firmly, looking away. "Now pay up, or you're taking that away for free."

He knew he wasn't making sense. A bouquet of that quality usually costed ten thousand Yen, most of the time even more. Silence fell, both males looking away from each other, each deep in their own thoughts. Finally, when Ryou's whipped around, he realised that the man was staring straight at him.

"Uh.. Huh?"

"Nothing," was the only reply he received.

"Uh, so.." His eyes were wide, burning orbs of amber.

"Five thousand Yen, at the least. Please."

"Three thousand," the younger shot back immediately, waving a long slender finger in the man's face.

"Four thousand," the older bargained, frowning slightly.

"Uh.. Deal."

The two males looked at each other, speechless, chest huffing slightly as though they were both out of breath from the exchange. Then, the man smiled first, the corners of his lips twisting upwards gently. Ryou followed, and soon, they burst out laughing at each other.

"Four thousand and five hundred Yen?" He asked hopefully, brows raised cheekily as he stood from his seat, still flushed slightly pink from the sudden outburst of laughter.

"Not a chance," Ryou replied, crossing over towards the cashier, equally pink in the cheeks.

"Here, I'll pay with this," The man said, holding out the first credit card he fished out from his chest pocket. Ryou eyed it with a raised brow, but said nothing as he took it quietly, turning to face the cashier.

"Thank you for visiting our shop," added Ryou suddenly, recalling that he hadn't properly greeted the man yet. After all, he was still a customer. To this, the currently-nameless man waved it off with a gentle smile, chuckling lightly under his breath.

"It's fine.. I'll be back here for another one of these soon anyway," offered the man in response, grinning at the still-blushing Ryou standing behind the counter. "You're really good at this.. Shishido Ryou?"

He'd just caught the man staring at the name-tag pinned neatly on his shirt. That caused him to flush a deeper shade of crimson, making him feel like digging a hole in the ground and disappearing within it.

"Ah, yes. And you are.." He hadn't miss the comment the man made about him and his bouquets.

"Ootori Choutarou, pleased to meet you. You can just call me Choutarou if you want."

"Uh, no thanks, Ootori-san.."

"Ootori-kun?"

"... Ootori-san.."

"Choutarou-kun."

"Ootori-san!"

"Chou-kun?"

"... Ootori-kun."

"Come on, I'm sure I'm not any older than you!"

"Of course you are, you-"

Behind them in the side room, Noeru smiled quietly as she listened to the exchange going on outside. At least, on this side of the country, things were starting to brighten up for this little boy.


	3. Love, clouded

**Disclaimer :** I do not own Prince of Tennis & the hot tennis princes inside, although like everyone else out there, I really wish I did.

**Summary : **This is an AU (Alternate Universe) Silver-pair story, rated T for chapters to come. There was a pattern to life, he had always believed, a pattern everyone follows unconsciously without questioning it. Years ago he had thrown away the key to his heart; however, when he finally answered the knock on the door to his heart.. It was too late for him to question the lack of pattern he had to follow.

**Note to all : **Not too good with my summaries yet, pardon me for that.. This story's rated T for a slight bit of sweet silver pair action. I know I'm probably in no position to say this, but this fanfic is dedicated to . Purple . Chocolate . Stars . for all those many times she's brightened up my days and made me smile, even up till now. Thanks, and hope you'll enjoy!

* * *

The next time he saw Ootori-kun- eh, Ootori-san, was a good three days later. Three days hadn't been enough for him to forget about his interesting encounter with this strange, silver-haired men. Three days were definitely not enough for him to stop glancing towards the door everytime the bells chimed.

During this three days, Ryou found himself doing research on how better to present purple flowers in a bouquet. He'd learnt plenty from browsing the net, and even more so by experimenting with almost half the purple flowers available in the shop. Noeru-san kept shooting him suspicious grins, which he ignored readily, giving her no signs that he'd notice, other than the occasional blush that flushes past his cheeks everytime Ootori's smile popped into his mind.

After all, he had never show this much interest in flowers in general, let alone bouquet wrapping.

He kept denying the fact that he might indeed be missing this Ootori guy, whom he'd only met for one night. He didn't even know much about him - All he knew was his full name, and that Ootori-san was merely three years older than him.

On the fourth day, Ryou strolled towards the florist shop at his own relaxed pace, knowing that there was no point for him to head there early anymore. He was sure this Ootori Choutarou wouldn't drop by like he'd previously promised.

However, as he took the turn towards the lane where the florist shop was located on, he saw Ootori-san waiting outside the florist shop, his hands buried in his pockets, a frown on his face as he appeared to be deep in thoughts. Upon noticing Ryou, though, a smile appeared on the silver-haired man's face, and he waved at Ryou cheerfully.

"Ryou-chan!"

Ryou's brows were raised so high they could've disappeared into his fringe, which said something, because even though his fringe was long, it was usually swept to the side and would rarely fall onto his face. "What?" He asked, sounding much more distant than he had expected himself to be.

"I'm sorry I haven't been around these few days.. I was caught up with something.."

"Cheh."

"Come on, Ryou-chan.."

"Don't call me that, I hardly know you." Which was actually true, so at this moment he hoped that the message will get through this guy's thick brain.

Ootori's face fell for a moment, but he managed to cheer up in the next instant; Ryou assumed this was just part of his character, to not be able to stay gloomy for long.

"It's okay, we'll have lots more chances to get to know each other-" It was that gentle, comfortting tone that made Ryou feel like he was being talked to like a little boy who had gotten himself into trouble; it just made him feel the need to interrupt-

"Don't be lame, why would I want to get to know you?" His amber irises were shining with amusement, not that he would know himself. Ootori-san took this in with surprise, and continued in the same tone-

"Well, because I-"

"Whatever, I have work to do. Move." Ryou had already reached past Ootori-san for the door.

"I'll be here the whole day-"

"Suit yourself."

Ryou ended up holding the door open to let Ootori-san in.

* * *

Work with Ootori-san around was interestingly entertaining, not to mention the fact that this silver-haired man had the strangest ability to keep all his fan-girls ogling outside the florist shop without having them flood into the shop to surround the both of them.

Ryou concluded that the 'mysterious aura' Ootori-san gives off was both attractive but dangerous at the same time, but he still couldn't understand why he couldn't feel this for himself.

"Ryou-chan, are you okay?"

"Uh, huh?"

Looking up to find Ootori-san's face a couple of inches away from his own, Ryou jerked away quickly, blushing as a look of total shock arranged his features. He'd thought.. At that distance..

They could've been about to kiss.

And it disturbed him to know that he was thinking along those lines.

"Woah, relax! Are you okay?

"Er, yeah.." Ryou replied, steadying himself with the table while bending down to pick up his toppled-over chair. "Uhm, where were we again?"

"We were talking about birthdays," Ootori-san reminded him gently, his brows furrowed with worry and concern. "Maybe you should take the other half of the evening off? You don't seem to be too well, you're flushed."

"Huh? Er, no, I think I'm fine.." Ryou murmured, dropping the stalk of flowers in his hand and lifting his fingers to his forehead. "I'm not having a fever, I'm fine."

Upon noticing that Ootori-san's frown hasn't faded, Ryou reached over the table and jabbed him in the cheek, forcing him to loosen up. "Don't worry, I'm fine, I swear. Uhm, so, you were asking me-"

"When's your birthday?" Ootori-san inserted appropriately, and for some reason he appeared to be blushing, blinking furiously as he looked at Ryou, then away at the table.

"Twenty-ninth of August," Ryou replied, stiffling a yawn. "Don't bother, no one else does anyway."

He hadn't realise the silent, calculating look in Ootori's eyes as the older man smiled and pet him on the head, which he reacted to by pushing away Ootori-san's hand and yelling, "Stop treating me like a bloody kid when I'm not one!".

As both males burst out laughing, however, they've failed to notice the dark figure stalking outside of the florist shop, a storming look on his features as his hand balled into a tight fist against the glass doors of the shop. Inside the shop, the second hand of the wall clock shifted to the twelve mark, bringing the hour hand to the seven mark.

The figure held a plastic bag in his other hand, the packet it contained still steaming slightly because of the fresh dinner that he had just prepared..

* * *

Ootori-san had kept his promise since that day onwards. Everyday after school, he'd find Ootori-san waiting for him outside he florist shop, a gentle smile on his face when he approached. Now, there was something more for him to look forward to everyday at work, apart from the joy of working with flowers, which was something he had only developed after meeting Ootori-san too.

Besides, Ootori-san was good at warding his fan-girls away, and he was also good at attractive other customers, mostly older females, into the shop. To put it in Ootori-san's way, he was just like a lucky charm for him and for the shop.

To this, Noeru-san kept her mysteriously smirk-like grin every single time she strolled past the both of them seated in the middle of the florist shop at the table. She had also taken to commenting that Ryou's bouquets were 'improving drastically', attributing it to what she called 'the purest of first love'. In return, Ryou tried to stuff a bunch of chrysanthemums into her bags that evening, but didn't because Ootori-san insisted that it was too mean to curse her to die at such a 'young' age.

Ryou was glad that he now had Ootori-san around; They could talk about each and everything, ranging from flowers to food to pets and anything else. They've shared most of their preferences and dislikes, talked about their ambition and goal in life, even about relationships.. Though when asked if he had a partner, or someone in mind, Ootori-san only replied him,

"I do, but I'm waiting for that special person to catch the cupid arrows of love from me."

"Disgusting," he remembered his reply to that, and they burst out laughing again.

Ootori-san had this special ability to make him laugh, or at least smile every other second.

He said his smile was contagious, and Ryou couldn't argue with that.

Days past quickly, and so did weeks. Within a month or so, he had gotten awfully familiar and at ease with Ootori-san around. The sales at the florist shop were increasing, no doubt because customers were more willing to come back for more flowers now that there was Ootori-san around, and that Ryou was much less icy (and smiling more) than before.

Also, he hadn't noticed until the change has been almost permanant, but it was no longer his close friend, Taki-kun, who would bring him his dinner in the evening. Ootori-san took the job over easily, and he would often bring along a set for himself and Noeru-san too; On the days where she wasn't as busy, the three of them would sit at the table in the middle of the florist shop to have dinner together.

Before he had realised, Ryou had been spending way too much time at school thinking about the shop, flowers, and Ootori-san; his grades in school had started to fall, not that he could properly concentrate on school work even from before.

"Ryou-chan!"

Ryou was sure this was the fourth or fifth time he was being called. Being jerked out of his daydream in such an annoying way, Ryou couldn't help but want to glare at the teacher calling his name that way, only to realise that the classroom has been emptied after he had raised his head; the only ones left in the room were him, and Taki Haginosuke, his only supposedly close friend in school.

"Oh. Hey, Taki-kun. What's with that address?"

"I tried every other variation, but you refused to react to anything else."

"Oh, really? Uh, haha.."

An awkward silence fell, with Ryou looking away at the floor while Taki stared hard at Ryou. Feeling the boring glare on himself, Ryou raised his head once more, and gave a dry smile.

"Uh, so, I haven't seen you around much these days.."

"I know. I noticed the silver-haired man around, and realised I wasn't needed anymore."

"... Taki, don't say that."

"Then at least call me by my given name?"

"Eh- What?"

An uncomfortable silence fell, with Ryou staring at Taki with a stun-shocked expression, with Taki fixing his eyes on the tiled floor. Finally, their gaze broke at the same time as the blonde boy shuffled on the spot.

"Nevermind. I'll be leaving you alone now."

"No, wait- Taki!"

Ryou found himself standing, yelling at no one but the classroom door, which had swung open as Taki-kun left in haste. Slumping back into his seat, Ryou sighed, and dropped his head onto the table before him. Somehow, even though he had never really felt he was any close to Taki-kun emotionally, he still felt rather horrible seeing how he's been treating his only close friend in school..


End file.
